Franks Xtra hot is my standard, but I am now desperately anxious to try some of the sauces Scootah and a few others have linked.
A buddy of mine picked up a bottle of Dave's Ghost Pepper Private Reserve last winter. It came hand signed by Dave and arrived in a pretty neat wooden box, as it should since it cost around $35 or so at the time. The sauce itself had some serious heat when I tried a drop of it on a cracker, but then again it's an extract so that's to be expected. In addition to Sriracha, Sambal Oelek is a great chili garlic sauce. Most of the Vietnamese places by me have a bottle sitting table side, and it really does have a great flavor. Not really hot, just a nice garlic kick. Does anyone have a good suggestion for a non-extract habanero-based sauce? Preferably one with actual heat? I have found some of the El Yucateco offerings to be tasty, but unfortunately they don't have the burn that I want. They do have good flavor though, and tend to be dirt cheap. This stuff goes great with tacos, burritos, carnitas, etc. and is usually under $3 at the local chain grocery stores:
Alright, I'll buck the trend and admit that I'm not a huge hot sauce fan, mainly cause I don't have a huge heat tolerance. Its interesting cause my Mom will go into ethnic restaurants and ask for spice on their scale of 1-10, not an "American" 1-10, so like one of the Thai places in my hometown an "American 8" is a Thai 4". My little sisters? One of them used to eat salsa with a spoon when she was little. Myself? I like the flavors but its the lingering heat after that kills me. I'll get after Cholula on tacos or whatnot if Im having Mexican, but other than that I stay away from heat. So I guess my question is, considering I'm not against the flavors at all, I frankly enjoy them, what are good "starter" hot sauces or should I just start attacking Sriracha and deal with it? Also, this needed to be mentioned...<a class="postlink" href="http://theoatmeal.com/comics/sriracha" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://theoatmeal.com/comics/sriracha</a>
I love hot sauces. The only thing is that the selection is pretty shit where I live. All the supermarkets carry very few different brands and the few good ones are really expensive, especially for a student. This results in me always returning with a few bottles with me when I travel. There is never a time where I don't have some tabasco sauce in my kitchen, though.
Yeah, chain stores are shitty around me too, I usually have to order online or going to ethnic grocery stores. I remember when I lived in MA that most of the liquor stores had an awesome variety of hot sauces and buffalo sauces.
Sriracha is what got me really into hot sauce, mainly because it's got a very unique (and delicious) flavor... but in terms of something that won't kill you with a drop, Frank's is reasonably mild.
Yucatan Sunshine is awesome. It really captures the flavor of the habanero pepper. Slightly fruity, vinegary, some carrot, and salt. This might be my favorite. It's good on everything. Stuff like Dave's is only good when you need to cut through layers of flavor and gravy and sauce. If that's your thing, use real peppers. They infuse stews/sauces so much better than a one sided extract pepper sauce. It's just hot. There's nothing behind it. Then there's this guy. The Sauce Boss. Just some weirdo that goes around playing Zydaco music and cooking gumbo on stage. His habanero is fucking tits, except you have to buy a whole case at a time. His sauce is great, but I just really wanted to post this picture.
I love hot sauce and am definitely a fan of many of the types previously posted. I've been on an infusion kick lately, mostly infusing vodka (which is super easy and delicious) but also olive oil. At a food expo, I found someone who does infused hot sauces. These are usually vinegar based, but he infuses the vinegar first with the peppers, then adds the other ingredients. The guy himself was great, very mad scientist that could talk forever about different peppers and flavors. A little pricier than other sauces, but the Mango Bango is ridiculously good. It has a great kick (I think it uses ghost peppers, among others), but it also has a really nice flavor. If you love hot sauce, I recommend giving these a try.